​​FG AC

Motivated by the events surrounding Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, an Expert Dialogue on Real-time Monitoring of Flight Data facilitated by the ITU highlighted the need to address the following long-term tasks, the completion of which would be an im​portant contribution towards the establishment of international standards for the use of an aviation cloud for real-time monitoring of flight data.

On-going discussion, at various levels and on a range of platforms, is considering the feasibility of streaming flight data from aircraft to the ground in real-time. Subjects debated within this discussion include the type of data to be transmitted to the ground and the required transmission rates; data security, storage and analytics; ownership of flight data; and the costs and changes to business models required to implement such systems on a global scale.

Government and industry
agree that the way forward should be one based on international standards.​

Based on the operational requirements for real-time monitoring of flight data identified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Focus Group on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring (FG AC) will identify the requirements for telecommunication standards for an aviation cloud for real-time monitoring of flight data.​​

Participation in FG AC

Any individual from a country that is a member of ITU and who is willing to contribute actively to the work may participate. This includes individuals who are also members of international, regional and national organizations.​The frequency and location of meetings will be determined by the Focus Group and the overall meetings plan will be announced as soon as possible. The Focus Group will use remote collaboration tools to the maximum extent. ​​Please subscribe to the FG AC mailing list to receive news, updates and announcements (see right column for further details).